Okkervil River's I Am Very Far continues to be the leader of the pack because I love songs that grow more interesting the more you listen to them. And I wanted to have the songs burned into my brain by the time of their June 23rd concert at The Wiltern.

My obsession with Chad VanGaalen and his album Diaper Island has led me back through his earlier catalog, Soft Airplane and Skelliconnection. Interesting to hear his development as an artist, where he seems to go backwards by abandoning a lot of the technical aspects of his music, arriving at a place where the simplicity of the songwriting is matched by an elementary approach to recording. Sometimes it's just a guitar or banjo and two harmonizing voices. The result is is amazingly poignant and emotional.

Since this was the first week of the Duniven residency at Silver Lake Lounge, I spent time with his album, I Have To Try For Her, to compare the live renditions of his songs to their recorded counterparts. The comparison was highly favorable, even satisfying.

The Belle Brigade have definitely produced one of the brightest and cleanest sounding records of the year and now their off across country opening for K.D. Lang. Not bad. The rest of the list is more Low, Fleet Foxes and Torches In Trees.

About Me

Came of age in the 60's on the East coast. Movie fanatic. Rock and Roll fanatic. Went to Woodstock. Moved to L.A. late 70's. Stopped listening to Rock in the mid 80's when I couldn't find anything I liked and assumed Rock was dead. Then in 2005 Indie-rock reached out and grabbed me and my life changed almost overnight. Went to my first concert in 25 years in Nov.'05. Can't stop. I've been to over 500 concerts in the last 5 years. Totally immersed in the local music scene and had to start this blog to keep from exploding.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I'm also now a senior editor at Radio Free Silver Lake
http://radiofreesilverlake.typepad.com/